German Minister of State Maria Bohmer singles out Perth for potential to be Europe’s ‘gateway to the Asia Pacific’

EXCLUSIVE, Sarah Martin, Federal Political EditorThe West Australian

Thursday, 2 November 2017 4:30AM

Camera IconGerman Minister Maria Bohmer says Perth could act as a gateway to Asia, in trade terms, for European countries.

The German Minister who will visit WA for a major international business conference wants progress made on the Australia-European Union Free Trade Agreement, as she singles out Perth for its potential to become Europe’s “gateway to the Asia Pacific”.

Maria Bohmer, Minister of State in the Federal Foreign Office, said the “historic” Asia Pacific Regional Conference was an opportunity to highlight the benefits of the stalled Australia-EU free trade agreement for Germany and Australia.

“We believe that the multilateral trading system provides benefits for all participating countries,” Dr Bohmer said ahead of her arrival in Perth tomorrow for the weekend conference. “The EU wants to conclude an FTA with Australia,” she said. “We are confident that we can negotiate and conclude such an agreement in the near future.”

Amid a populist retreat to protectionism across the Western world, Dr Bohmer said increasing trade and investment between Australia and the EU would boost small and medium-sized businesses, and the conference was an opportunity to make that argument.

Having chaired the Australia Germany Advisory Group with Federal Finance Minister Mathias Cormann for the past four years, Dr Bohmer said she had learnt that there was a need to “focus much more on WA and Perth”.

“I think the fact that Perth was chosen to host the very important APRC — a conference I am very much looking forward to — shows how attractive WA is as a location and a gateway to the Asia-Pacific region,” she said.